I'm hosting Varg Freeborn for his Violence of Mind series on April 29th in Chicago, near O'Hare airport. A course like no other on extreme criminal violence. Hear an insider perspective from someone who lived and survived in that violent criminal underworld world for 25 years, with an articulation on how to hack the human processor by understanding howhttps://www.violenceofmind.com/events/chicagovom/Erik Tweedt"Erik TWEEDT" <e.tweedt@yahoo.com>

***** Mindset *****

"If you prepare for the emergency, the emergency ceases to exist!"-- Dr. Sherman House

The private citizen's rules of engagement are much better than the police officer's. You don't have to warn the bad guy. You don't have to ask the bad guy to surrender. You don't have to attempt to arrest. You don't have to pursue. You can and should run away. If you fear imminent death or serious injury to yourself or other innocent parties, you have legal justification to shoot the bad guy in the cranio-ocular cavity without warning from a meek countenance. Which is correct. Because if you give the bad guy any indication that you are a threat to him, he will shoot you first.

Want To Be An Accurate Pistol Shooter?http://blog.suarezinternational.com/2018/01/want-to-be-an-accurate-pistol-shooter.htmlExcerpts: The front sight must be seen through the rear sight in a way that their relative alignment is easy and repeatable. That calls for square and hard angles and for sharp corners (not circles and round shapes). . . . go see an eye doctor and see if he can help. A good trigger can be single stage or two stage, but it must be smooth as glass on the take up. Every bit of grit will move your muzzle off target. When it breaks it must break clean and not be so heavy that it jars your pistol off target as you press. And the reset after the shot must be clear and easy to feel.

Sub Zero Survival Tips https://us11.campaign-archive.com/?u=91836f6ce2a042bef3343405c&id=e9259ba12d Have you ever left your car out in the cold and tried to open the door only to find the handle frozen and stuck? Had to spray WD-40 in the key hole? Well, your pistol can get frozen and stuck too. That's why I always carry concealed, inside the waist band. A warm gun is a happy gun. Unfortunately, some states, as Missouri, require their licensed armed guards to open carry. They can't even legally put their jacket over their pistol.

Training Versus Practice: Why You Need Bothhttps://www.usacarry.com/training-versus-practice/Excerpt: . . . the late, great, Randy Rhodes, the original guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne, would seek out and take guitar lessons from the guitar instructors in the various cities he would visit while on tour.. . . If we don’t obtain good instruction, then we spend many hours and a lot of resources practicing wrong technique.

"The Wild Boar and the Fox" A WILD BOAR stood under a tree and rubbed his tusks against the trunk. A Fox passing by asked him why he thus sharpened his teeth when there was no danger threatening from either huntsman or hound. He replied, “I do it advisedly; for it would never do to have to sharpen my weapons just at the time I ought to be using them.”Aesop's Fables (p. 44).Translated by George Fyler Townsend. Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

***** Tactics *****

***** Techniques *****

In climbing, you will hear, "Belay?" meaning, Is the belay ready?"Belay on." meaning, I am ready to protect you as you climb."Climbing?" meaning, I am preparing to climb and am awaiting your response."Climb on." meaning, I am ready to protect you, you may climb."Slack." meaning, Give me rope or take up the slack. What to do is usually obvious from the context or the tension on the rope. Similarly, in combat operations with a partner, you must communicate. "Reloading." meaning, I have to reload. Cover me. "Covering." meaning, I am shooting at the enemy. Do whatever you need to do."Moving?" meaning, I have chosen my destination behind cover and am prepared to move, awaiting your signal."Covering." meaning, I am shooting at the enemy. Do whatever you need to do. Or, if you are the leader, "Cover!" meaning, Shoot at the enemy to allow others to do whatever they need to do. "Move!" meaning, Move to cover, or a position of tactical advantage, or to escape.

"In martial arts and especially if you claim to teach self-defense, the price of error is blood. The luxury of an instructor is that it will not be your blood. That makes bullshit more reprehensible, not less." -- Rory Miller

I teach my instructors not to tell war stories during class. Unless it directly relates to the subject at hand and directly answers the student's question. Perhaps at lunch after the lectures if we have dead time (which we never do). Perhaps it would be best to send the student the war story via email if he asks to hear it.

I once had a lady drop out of a class that I was teaching.Before she left, she told me that she didn't realize that the class would be so intense. I have prayed several times that she try again in the future.

***** Pedagogy *****

A new climbing gym opened near my residence, so I went to check it out. A little girl was having difficulty with a problem (what they call paths up the wall using a particular sequence of holds). So, I asked her if I could advise her. She said yes. I suggested that she: 1) keep her hips close to the wall (as opposed to keepingher center of mass close to the wall to minimize the vector component of force on her hands perpendicular to the wall), 2) keep the sides of her climbing shoes flat against the wall (not letting her toe or heel stick out away from the wall), 3) not bend her elbows (it tires the arms), rather rotate at the hand hold and rotate at the shoulder joint, [Have you ever seen monkeys climb? They never bend their elbows. Because they are smart. At least smarter than most humans who play in climbing gyms.]4) expect to make 5 to 7 foot moves for every hand move so as to put yourself in a position to use your legs to push yourself up the wall, as opposed to using your arms to pull yourself up the wall, 5) don't be afraid to turn your back to the wall. Looking at her facial expression, I apologized for giving her too much information. She said, it was fine and that it must be frustrating for you to watch us. Not at all, I responded, you are learning fast. No we're not. We're just farting around. That's okay, play is good. You learn a lot when you play.

But, some people decide (and it has to be a conscious decision) that they don't want to just fool around anymore. They want to master this skill. When such people ask, you have to be in a position to guide them. Instruct them if you are competent to do so, or refer them to a competent instructor. Because wanting to learn and not being able to find a mentor whom you can communicate with is frustrating, and may cause the student to move on to other things.

"Defensive Living" 2nd Editionby Ed Lovette and Dave Spaulding ISBN-13: 978-1932777093ISBN-10: 1932777091 The section on driving is invaluable. Excerpts: This presents an enormous challenge to [the students] during personal security training because they oftenhave no frame of reference for what the instructor is saying. They hear the explanations for why they should or should not do something. They are able to perform the indicated exercise to the appropriate level during the training. But they may not take very much of what they learn with them when they complete the training if the instructor hasn’t done his homework.. . . The defeatist attitude is a selffulfilling prophecy. It is most often identified by the phrase, “If they want me, they’re gonna’ get me.” If you honestly believe that, close this book and pass it on to someone else. We can’t help you. More to the point, you can’t help yourself.. . . Clint Smith . . . tells his students, . . . , “Get the best training you can afford. But train with the understanding that most firearm’s practice is about 75% physical and 25% mental. A gunfight is about 75% mental and about 25% physical.”. . . . . . the sole purpose of motor skills training is to develop a conditioned response to a specific threat. You will have about a 3-5 second window in which to react to worst case situations. If you have to stop and think about what you are going to do you will simply run out of time.. . . The journalist asked her what precautions she took when she was outside of her home. She replied, I open my eyes. I open my mind.. . . "Is it possible to empty-hand defeat an opponent with a gun? Yes, of course it is. But in addition to skill, the martial artist must be very lucky. And the man with gun must be very stupid." - Sekeichi Toguchi, Karate Grandmaster. . . “Advanced training is nothing more than the basics mastered.”. . . Shown here is a rear sight that has been widened with a file . . . [This is critically important. In low light conditions the light on either side of the front sight will get very thin or disappear if the rear sight is too small. (And they all come from the factory too small.) This forces the shooter to move the front sight up relative to the rear sight, so he can distinguish the front sight from the rear sight. This causes his bullets to impact high. -- Jon Low]. . . If you look like prey, you will be preyed upon. [No, you can't bluff. You have to get training and you have to practice what you've learned in your training. There is no other way to convince the predator that you are a competent operator, and will kill him if need be. If you convince the predator, he will leave, and you win in every sense of the word. -- Jon Low]

Other credentials for carrying: Armed Forces Courier CardOn the back of this card are orders from the President of the United States directing all law enforcement, military, and government employees to render all aid and assistance to the bearer of this card. When we carried classified material, we would not surrender to arrest by police or anyone else. Of course, some people don't recognize the authority of the POTUS. You just have to shoot them. Because you can't let them shoot you and get access to the classified material, especially crypto keys. State Armed Guard/Courier LicenseCongress enacted the Armored Car Industry Reciprocity Act (ACIRA) of 1993, amended several times thereafter.https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/featured-articles/armored-car-industry-reciprocity-act-and-local-law-enforcementThe magic words are, "We are transporting federal money." (Isn't all money, federal money? Think about it. Give unto Caesar what is Caesar's. Give unto God what is God's.)The cops should leave you alone. If not, eventually an FBI agent will threaten to arrest the policeman for violating federal law if he doesn't release you. Some cops are not as legally educated as others. A written contract with the U.S. State Department saying that you will not be prosecuted for anything you do in this third world pit. Oh, you mean you've never hear of Blackwater? Of course, the U.S. State Department is not trustworthy and you might be prosecuted. Operating in an absolute monarchy with written orders from the King (or Crown Prince) is really nice. Or, Status Of Forces Agreements (SOFA) with the hosting country will suffice.Hunting terrorist in Riyadh and Ankara during the Iraqi Freedom operation, those were the days. And then, of course, there is nepotism. We were on the second floor of Fisalia Tower (a high rise) in downtown Riyadh. It's a big shopping mall. We were eating at the McDonalds. Across the way, a Matawa (religious policeman) is beating a woman with his stick (Matawa only carry sticks.) and screaming at her to cover her head. (Women exposing their hair in Saudi is pornographic.) She pulls out a pistol and shoots the Matawa dead. The regular police (Ministry of the Interior), armed with submachineguns, immediately show up. She shows them her ID card, which identifies her as a princes of the al Saud family (the royal family). The cops let her go. Lucky you live in America.

***** Survival Tips *****

HOW NOT TO GET SHOT BY POLICE part 1http://blog.suarezinternational.com/2017/12/how-not-to-get-shot-by-police.htmlExcerpt: Police shoot one of their own every 18 months around the nation in everyday police work, . . . . . . All of this, "we are there to save lives . . . we are there to intervene in the conflict and negotiate" is nonsense. For every negotiator type, you have a dozen meat eaters racing to be the first one to make his career by taking down the terrorist.

I have heard medics argue about what to use to clean a wound if clean water is not available. One of my friends, who is an M.D., opines that urine is okay. It's sterile and it's warm; and if the donor is properly hydrated, it's clear and in large volume. So, it's close to water.

If you would like the lesson plans for my NRA Defensive Pistol course, send me an email, and I'll send you the latest version. The lesson plans constantly change as I take courses, communicate with other instructors, and stay abreast of best practices.